grease boots

That won't work usually. 'Very' seldom you can remove a tie rod end without damaging the internal plastic parts.

'Normally you just put more grease in. If they are those stupid 'lifetime' ones, then you can get a needle fitting for the grease gun and try filling it through he hole torn in the boot.

'Usually' when the boot it torn, it means the joint has flexed past it's 'normal' movement which means it is worn out and about to fail. If the joint has any up and down movement it is time for a new one.

Mike

86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's

Dennis Cox wrote:

Ok, the end of the drag link that is connected to the tie rod is threaded so it looks like I could remove/replace it, but the end of the drag link into the steering knuckle (I think that is what it is called) is not threaded. I would either need to replace the boot or get a new drag link.

Try that

try applying shoe goo after cleaning up the boot

I have a brand new drag link bar, that $120.00 sucker and the boot is just plain gone already. I have a spare boot but I just grease it before every run and leave it alone rather than taking a chance on wrecking the damn thing. I would only use a hammer on the backed off nut to remove it, not a puller, but even so....

Mike

Dennis Cox wrote:

It isn't a local parts vendors, but Quadratec, for one, sells `em:

L.W.(Bill) Hughes III wrote:

Yes, the one connected to the tie rod is fairly easy to get out (and I have

57k miles on my TJ). I took mine out thinking it was a problem that it wasn't. Just placed a hammer flat against one side of the drag link and used another to tap the top. Since the end is "pressed" in, it'll loosen up after a few taps. Then I lightly tapped the end of the threaded part and it came right out. Since I couldn't actually remove it from the tie rod itself, it reinstalled it.

Eric

99 TJ SE

Update: I picked up a plain rubber boot from oreilly auto parts. Popped the tie rod off of the drag link. Coerced the damaged boot off with some pliers. Cleaned up the tie rod end a bit. Replaced the boot with the new one. Bolted it back up. Took all of 15 minutes and that included regreasing all other zerks while I was under there. The tie rod end was not damaged. I think what happened is the original boot must have gotten dragged on a rut I was in over the weekend and it ripped open. At 8 years old, I wouldn't expect a small piece of rubber like that to withstand too much stress.

I still need to replace the boots on the outer rod ends, but the hole in that one is not as bad so I'll probably just keep greasing it often until I can get some more time to replace it.

BTW, the Firestone Destination tires did awesome last weekend. I crawled up a couple of "steep to me" hills and they didn't spin at all. I also crawled across a couple of boulders and at one point only had 2 inches of my front tire on the rock. It held onto it no problem. The tires were inflated at

24 psi which is what I run on the street. I'm impressed with them so far.

Thanks for all of your advice. Dennis